Wchamp2- it was quite a coincidence running into the archaeology crew! Hope someday they make their findings public. Continuing on our journey: to refresh everyone's memory, here's segment of Donald DeVere's map of the Madera Sugar Pine grades:
We wanted to explore one of the last inclines and camps MSP used before they shut down in 1931.
If you recall, last time I started down this grade while my wife headed back:
That resulted in me getting to what looked like impenetrable brush about the same time I heard the mountain lion that was near my wife.
This time we stopped at the large fallen tree that blocked the grade:
We could have driven around it, but that would have meant trashing some small saplings, and since out first objective was only 1/4 mile further down the grade we elected to walk it. The Forest Service guys had already given up driving at this point and were already walking the grade.
We followed the mainline until we saw the spur down to the incline and 1929-30 camp coming up from below. We then worked our way down to it and headed downhill. All along our journey we looked for artifacts and found several items such as this flour can:
And this can for some chocolate flavored drink:
I don't know if this dates back to the logging era, but it had been opened with an old fashioned can opener...
To be continued...